Pop-up Gallery

Professor: Edwin Chan
project date: September 2012

The Pop-up Gallery was a quick studio project in preparation for the Nomadic Museum. The project explored portability, ease of construction, and visitor experience. The gallery exhibited two works by artist Pierre Huyghe: an aquarium and a video projection.

The gallery’s geometry is formed by the artwork, honoring them as independent entities (rather than works on a wall or in a space). The visitor pathways create a secondary form around the art pieces, inserting views from multiple perspectives. To exhibit the video portion, the structure starts as a small rectangular opening with a projector and viewport for visitors. The room extends outward to meet the 12′ x 16′ semi-translucent screen. At the base of this space (accessed by enclosed, ground-level entrance), visitors can sit or stand below the floor with their heads within the video projection room. Alternately, they can look in through the shuttered windows on the side where the walkway extends from the ground level to the back viewport. The shape of the room allows viewers to see in without blocking the projection or other visitors’ views.

Opposite the video projection room, the second room recedes in from the screen to the aquarium (32″ x 53″ x 39″), framing each edge with an angled wall. Light filters in from the back of the projection screen, as well as from three unenclosed sides of the aquarium. Visitors can go up a ramp from ground level to view the video (from side windows), or to view the aquarium close-up. A visitor entrance from the ground level leads first into the aquarium room, where stair-seats face the back of the projection, and an open floor space allows views up to the aquarium from (5′-6′) standing eye-level.

Also see pop-up gallery design journal sketches